As Little Falls has taken its first step at entering a residential energy aggregation program under which it can use the Passaic County's purchasing cooperative, the county is refining the implementation that program.

The Passaic County Freeholder Board on Tuesday night rejected the bids for a request for proposal for energy consultant services relating to that program.

"The RFP language and specifications were changed and what they did was bifurcated the roles of the roles of energy consultant and vendor running the aggregation program," said county spokesman Keith Furlong.

He said that the new specifications for the program will allow the vendor running the aggregation program to do the education and outreach for the residential component of it.

"The county felt the original specifications were overly broad," Furlong said. "The new specifications will have more of a focus on the residential energy aggregation and its relevant factors."

That will include communicating with and providing program information to residents, he said.

"The new RFP will help Passaic County get the best possible efficiency and pricing for Passaic County residents," Furlong said. "The local municipalities are moving forward and the county is also moving forward with the program."

The county's move to reject the bids comes just after the Little Falls Township Council on Monday adopted an ordinance establishing an energy aggregation program pursuant to New Jersey's Energy Aggregation Act of 2003, which allows government agencies to aggregate the energy requirements of residential commercial and municipal accounts for the purchase of energy from non-utility suppliers.

Little Falls had adopted the ordinance for the purposes of a residential energy aggregation program for local ratepayers at the urging of energy asset management firm Concord Energy Services, which sent two representatives to make a presentation before residents and the township council recently.

Vicki Molloy, vice president for Concord Energy Services, was not immediately aware on Wednesday that the bids had been rejected and said that they had been waiting for the county to award the them.

"We were the consultant last year and our consultancy really ceased on Dec. 31, 2013," she said. "However, we had some municipalities we were working with so we didn't want to stop the process."

"We will be submitting another bid," she said. "The only thing is that things are going to get delayed a little later. Hopefully, we'll be selected to continue to represent them."

Last year, the Woodland Park Borough Council adopted a similar ordinance establishing an energy aggregation program for its town, after encouragement from Concord Energy Services.

Officials have said that the program would provide no disruptions to customer services and that residents can opt out of the program and switch back to the energy rate established by the state's Board of Public Utilities.

"With the ordinances they're joining the county program," Furlong said. "So it doesn't matter who the vendor running the program is, the county's job is to make sure they get the best efficiency and the best pricing for the program."